Method of and apparatus for rolling balls



- F. M. CANDA.

METHOD OFAND APPARATUS FOFE ROLLING BALLS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-19,1919- r 8 1,367,899. v Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

4 SHEETSSHEET I.

INVENTORY ATTORNEK CA NDA. RATUSYFOR ROLLING BALLS. FILED OCT. 10.. 1919.

METHOD OF AND APPA 7 APPLICATION 1,367,299.

Patented Feb; 1, 1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

flm

ATTORNEY.

v F. M. CANDA.

' METHOD OF AND 'APPARATU FOR ROLLING BALLS v APPLICATiON FILE v D OCT- 10, 1919 1,367,299fi Patented 'ehmg l, 1 4SHE'TS$HEET"3.

as. Q

h F. M. DA. METHOD OF AND APPAR FOR ROLLING BALLS.

VAPPLICATIDN FILEDDCT. l0. l9l9.

j INVENTOR.

1 Y ATTORNEY.

illustrating various steps in the formation of balls according to my method; Fig. 13 shows an axial section of a portion of a bar in an early stage of the process of forming the balls; Fig. 14 being a front elevation of a nearly completed ballgroup, the necks be tween the balls being about to be severed;

' and Fig. 15 is a side view of one of the balls after the severing thereof from the other balls of its group, and after change of axis of rotation, as hereinafter described.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2 Numerals 1 and 2 designate grooved coacting rolls mounted in suitable bearings in a frame comprising housings 3 resting upon a suitable bed and a connecting top member 4. The grooves in rolls 1 and 2 conform to the shape of the object to be formed, being usually half round in profile so as to produce spheres; but I may say at this point that while my apparatus is particularly intended for the production of articles of generally spherical form, yet it i is obviously adapted for the production of other forms of the nature of objects of rotation; for-example, ellipsoids; .and such objects I ,include within the general term balls I have not indicated specifically means for driving the rolls 1 and 2, but such -means may be means such as are commonly employed for driving. the rolls of rolling mills, except that the rolls should be driven in the same direction, whereas the rolls of ordinary rod mills, for example, are commonly driven in opposite directions.

The relative direction of rotation of the two rolls :1 and 2 is indicated by arrows in Fig. 1.

Likewise I have indicated no particular means for holding down the upper roll 1;.

but. such holding down. means, if required, may be similar to the means for the-same purpose employed in ordinary rolling-mills,

' such asare employed for rolling slabs, bars frame forward and back.

that the supply of fluid under, pressure to these ram devices will beregulated by a suitable valve 7, so that the presser frame may either be pressed forward toward the rolls 1 and 2, or may be retracted;

. 10 designates a shelf upon which a bar to be formed may be placed, at a time when the presser frame 5 is retracted. Such bar, so placed on the shelf, rolls down the latter into the space between said rolls 1 and 2 and the presser 5, and then, the presser being ad- 'vanced, said bar is forced against the ribs of the rolls 1 and 2, and as said rolls rotate said bar is rolled between the rolls 1 and 2, and, under the influence of the pressure ex- 'erted by presser 5, is gradually forced into the grooves of said rolls, partaking of the form of said grooves, until it is converted into a series of balls. The operation may be stopped while the several balls are still connected by narrow necks, or it may be continued until the several balls are severed one from another. When the operation has continued sufficiently far, the presser 5 is retracted by suitable operation of the ram devices 7,-whereupon the balls will roll out from between rolls 1 and 2, and may then be withdrawn from the mill. It the operation is stopped before the balls are completely severed from one another, being therefore still connected by narrow necks, it is easy to break these necks, mrticularly after the ball-bar has cooled. i3ut in general, it will be preferable to continue the ball rolling operation until the balls are completely severed from one another.

11 in Figs. 1 and 2 designates the balls while still between the rolls 1 and 2, but at a stage where their rolling is practically completed, so that the presser 5 is about to be retracted to permit the balls to roll out of the mill.

That portion of the presser 5 which bears upon the material to be formed into balls, preferably consists of a series of disks l2. relatively narrow as compared with the grooves of the rolls 1 and 2, as will be seen in Fig. 2, and rounded at the edges; these rollers, therefore, press against the equatorial portion' only of the forming balls. This is an important consideration, particularly when the balls are to be of spherical or nearly spherical form, for the following reason: hen the bar from which the balls are to be formed is first pressed by the presser 5 against therolls 1 and 2, the first result is a grooving of the bar by the ribs of these rolls, as a result of which the bar is divided into sections, each corresponding to ,one of the registering grooves of the rolls 1 and 2, these sections, however, being still connected. At this time, the bar from which the balls are to be formed, is rotatingbetween the rolls 1 and 2 and the disks 12 of the presser. As the operation proceeds, and the ribs of the rolls 1 and 2 groove more deeply the said bar, the metal at the shoulders of the sections into which the said bar is dividedis pressed inward toward the equa till lid

uatorial portions; and hence it is desirabl that said rollers be not concave, or at is; t he not concave with a curvature ap- J'ng that of the formed balls. in ct, these rollers may be plan'edtaced, and

so shown in the drawings. the ball torming operation proceeds, the neclrs joining the partly l ormed balls gradtuilly become smaller until linally, and vrhile the forming balls are still of greater diameter than the minimum space between the bottoms of the grooves of rolls land 2, the said neclrs brealr, and there-upon the really termed balls commonly change their antes oi rotation, turning in the grooves of rolls 1 and Else that they rotate about new ates, This is done without any operation olt special mechanism and without special adjustment oil the presser 5, and is an action oi ertreme importance, since, as a result ot the acquiring or new axes of rotation, the remnants of the necks theretotore connecting the partly formed halls are rolled, into the loodies of said balls,,whereby the material is greatly condensed and very solid halls are produced.

The completed balls, of course, have a certain. volume. The bar from which these balls are rolled preferably has a diameter, readily determined by calculation, such that each of the sections into which the bar is divided by the first grooving action ol the rolls has a volume slightly greater than that at the finished ball. This compels a certain compression of the metal, and therefore a certain increase in density thereoi', which is elrtremely desirable as tending to promote the :tormation of very solid halls; and it does not matter it the amount oi metal in one of the ball sections exceeds somewhat slightly that amount of metal which, under the ut most conditions of pressure available, can he pressed into a true sphere; tor, it there be a slight encess o'lt metal, alter the partlytermed balls have changed their axes of retation, as previously explained, the subse quent rolling may result in the formation of ball-like objects which are really slightly ellipsoidal, the new anis of rotation being the shorter, and being, commonly, about at right angles to what was the initial axis ot rotation. The turning of the balls to new aires of rotation is apparently due to engagement of the axial teats (the remains of the necks which joined the partly formed balls belore rupture of such necks) with the sides ot the grooves of rolls 1 and 2. It will he noted that in this operation the rolling oi the bar into balls occurs while the said balls ll remain slightly to one side of a line j oining the centers of rolls 1 and 2; and when the rolling operation iscomplete'd, and the presser 5 is retracted, the finished halls roll out on that same side of the rolls 1 and 2.

ln the alternative construction shown in 5 lligs. 6 and l, the rolls, here designated by numerals l ant 92%, are placed side by side,

the presser, 5, being-arranged to more up and down substantially vertically, Utl n wise, the construction is substantially the same as that or l igs. 1 and it. in the l tion oil' this apparatus oi ll igs. ti and 7,

ever, it will usually be more conveniei regulate the site of the initial bar train which the balls are to he formed, so that the halls, when practically completed, may pass completely between rolls l and 2, drop .pin out at the bottom.

- meet such as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 may be employed, wherein, hack of each roll lit, there are two rolls 16, themselves mounted in members it". 'lheserolls 16 receive pressure from the rolls 12, and constitute, in tact, roller bearings for the rolls l2, s

Since the bar from which the balls are to be tormed may not be of uniform crosssection throughout, it may be desirable to provide tor slight individual latitude of movement of each of the several rollers 19;. To that end, as shown in Fig. 10, these rol ms 12 (together with rollers 16, it the latter be employed) may be mounted. in hearings in individual members ll mounted to slide back and forth slightly in slide hearings in the transverse presser member (here designated by numeral 5 ram device 17 being provided for each such member lat, lt will be understood that all of these hydraulic ram devices 1? receive their motive fluid from the same source; and

therefore they constitute automatic compensating means whereby each of the prcsser rolls 1Q presses with substantially the same force against the material. from which the balls are being formed, but nevertheless each oi those presser rolls 12 may yield individ ually as required by the particular conditions afiecting the forming ot'its particular ball.

' In Fig. 12 l have indicated that one oil the ball forming rolls, here designated by numeral 1* may be of materially less diameter than the other said roll, here designated by numeral 2 The advantage of this arrangement is that it permits the presser roll 1% to a separate hydraulic llltl llll enter farther between the two ball torming rolls than would otherwise be the case. lVhen one of the rolls is much smaller than and 6 and 7.

In Figs. 13, 14, and 15 I have indicated somewhat diagrammatically successive stages in the formation of balls according to my method. In Fig. 13, the bar from which the balls are to be formed has been grooved somewhat deeply by the action of the ribs of the ball-forming rolls, said bar having therefore been divided into ball sections 11*. In this view the axis of rotation is 1818 This view shows the beginning of the foreing of the metal from the ends of each ball section toward the center.

Fig. 1 1 shows a bar after the formation of balls therefrom is nearly completed; the balls, herej'designated by numeral'll", being connected only by; narrow necks which are so narrow that they are about to be severed or broken. I

Fig. 15 shows one of the nearly finished balls after it has been severed from the others of its group and after its axis of rotation has changed, as previously described. In this figure 181 8 designatesthe former axis of rotation, and 19-19 the present axis of rotation.

What I claim is:

1. In a ball rolling apparatus, the combination of coacting grooved ball-forming rolls, pressing means and means for causing said pressing means to press material to be formed into balls into the space between said rolls, and into the grooves of said rolls.

2. In a ball rolling apparatus, the combination of coacting grooved ball-forming rolls, pressing'means, said pressing means comprising a pressing member adapted to press a ainst the material acted upon, and means or advancing said pressing member to press material to be formed into balls into the space between said rolls.

. 3. In a ball rolling apparatus, the combination of coacting grooved ball-forming rolls and pressing means arranged to press material to be formed into balls into the space between said rolls, and into the grooves of said rolls, said pressing means comprising a' .pressing roll adaptedto press against the material acted upon, and means for advancing and retracting said pressing roll.

' 4.. In a ball rolling apparatus, the combination of coacting grooved ball-forming rolls and pressing means arranged to press material to be formed into balls into the space between said rolls, and into the grooves of said rolls, said pressing means comprising a plurality of rollers, one for each forming ball, and each of a width such that it presses against a narrow equatorial portion only of its corresponding ball, and means for advancing and retracting said pressing rollers.

5. In a ball rolling apparatus, the combination of coacting grooved ball-forming rolls and pressing means arranged to press material to be formed into balls into the space between said rolls, and into the grooves of said rolls, said pressing means comprising a plurality of rollers, with means for permitting individual slight movement of each roller in and out, and means for advancing and retracting said rollers together.

6. In a ball rolling apparatus, the combination of coacting grooved ball-forming rolls and pressing means arranged to press material to be formed into balls into the space between said rolls, and into the grooves of said rolls, said pressing means comprising a plurality of rollers, and means for advancing and retracting said rollers together, whereby individual adjustment of saidrollers with reference to the material being rolled is permitted.

7. In a ball rolling apparatus, the combination of three coacting rolls between which material to be formed into balls may be rolled, at least one of said rolls being grooved, and at least one of said rolls being mounted for movement toward and from another of said rolls, and means for so moving the same.

8. In a ball rolling apparatus, the combination of two coacting rooved ball-forniing rolls located substantially one above the other and a third roll arranged to press material to be formed into balls into the space between said first-mentioned rolls, and means for advancing and retracting said third roll.

9. The herein described method of forming balls, which consists in rolling spaced grooves into a rotating bar, and as said grooving proceeds pressing the material at the shoulders of the sections into which the bar is so divided toward the central portions of said sections while exerting pressure on the equatorial portions only of said sections to hold said sections in place while they are being subjected to the ball-forming operation at their ends.

10. Theherein described method of forming balls, which consists in rolling spaced grooves into arotating bar and thereby dividing said bar into sections connected by necks which grow progressively smaller as the grooving proceeds and at the same time exerting pressure from the ends of said sections to change the form of said sectionsto ball form, and finally separating said sections one from another and causing them to change their axes of rotation and thereby rolling into the body portions of said balls the remnants of the necks formerly connecting the sections, and condensing the metal of said balls.

11. The herein described method of formt inglballs', which consists in rolling spaced grooves into 'a rotating bar the initial d1-,

ameter of which issnch as to rovide a s li ht-excess of metal as co'mpare with the v0 uine of the desired finished ball, and by said rolling forcing material-from thebarsections so forme'dtowal'd thecenters thereof, and applying" pressure to the equatorial portions of the forming balls durmgsuoh rolling while avoiding the a plioation of peripheral pressure to the si e portions so as not to interfere with the flow of material ,toward the center. I 1

12. The herein described method of forming ba1ls, wh-ich consists in'rolling spaced specificationm the .ing w tnesses.v

-, ing foroing'material from "the barseetionsr so formed toward the centers'thereofiapplyin-g pressure to the equatorialiportions of the forming balls during; such rolling 'while avoiding the applicat on of peripheral-presx sure to the side ortio'ns' so asnot to interfere'- with the flow o material toward the center,

and separating the sections one from an other and eausln'g them to change their axes of rotation and therebjcondensing the metal in the former axial regions of saidballsk I In testimony whereof I have signed this v F RDINAND IMORIA ANDA. Witnesses:

I D. E. Dnwnn', H. M. MARBLE.

presence-of two sub'scrib- 

